On Sunday afternoon, our delegation went up to Grassy Narrows. We stayed for 2 nights at the Trapper’s Cabin, a space that the community is lending us during our visit. We’re camping, sort of, all of us sleeping and living in the same room, one kitchen and one bathroom, no shower, no internet, no phone services. People from the community come and go; some of its members are used to CPT delegations and spend time talking and telling. We also received the unexpected visit of Paul, the minister of the Christian Baptist Church on the territory. He tells us about his views of some of the Anishinaabe rituals, his fears that they keep them away from Christian truth and salvation. We nodded, but expressed our perspectives too.
On Tuesday afternoon, while we were in Grassy Narrows, we had a workshop on undoing racism; Charles, one of the school teachers at the local school, joined us. After an intense time of sharing experiences and listening to one another’s stories, it is good, according to Anishinaabe and other first Nations’ tradition to do a smudging ceremony; Charles offered to perform it with us/for us. The ceremony is a cleansing and healing ritual; some grass is lit and each participant breathes in its smell and washes him/herself with its smoke. Traditionally, four different types of grass can be used: sage, cedar, sweetgrass, or tobacco; one of us has sage, so that is what we used. “Sage is burned in smudging ceremonies to drive out bad spirits, feelings, or influences, and also to keep bad spirits from entering the area where a ceremony takes place” (http://www.asunam.com/smudge_ceremony.html).
Charles went around the circle and let us breathe in the sweet smell of sage. At the very end of the ritual, he told us: "you know what this means, we're all pagans now!" We laughed; he added: "but pagan means dweller, we're all dwellers of this land!" I think of Paul, the minister we met earlier, and how things are more complex than a mere pagan/Christian dichotomy and how rituals cross lines. I like that. Today afternoon, we're returning to Grassy Narrows. We'll be participating in the community's annual Pow Wow this weekend, guest-dwellers of their land!
*On Grassy Narrows and its community, see Amnesty International's site: http://www.amnesty.ca/themes/indigenous_grassy_narrows.php.
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